Category: Enjoyed

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Enjoyed Recommended

Jack’s Back, Baby

One of my greatest game loves of my late teens/early twenties was [Jellyvision](http://www.jellyvision.com/)’s *You Don’t Know Jack*. I owned the original, played the ever-living hell out of it – it was the perfect merge of game show and video game.

After the YDKJ line fizzled out (the only really notable release other than the original was YDKJ 4: The Ride, which was extremely twisted in every sense of the word), Jellyvision fell off the map a bit. They became an *occasional search* – one of the many things that pop into my head once or twice a year and I go “Oh yeah, I should see if there’s anything about them online.” (Other occasional searches included [Lamprey Systems](https://vjarmy.com/archives/2006/08/the_fifth_horseman_returns.php) and a song called ‘Blue Illusion’ that was tagged as being an Orbital song but was, in fact, not.)

When I started at Freeverse, Jellyvision did provide me a bit of game design knowledge through their [Jack Principles](http://jellyvision.com/go.php?p=/ici/jp/index.php), which I still think should be required reading for most game designers.

My quiz game hankering was only recently quenched by picking up [Buzz: The Big Quiz](http://www.buzzthegame.com/en_GB/index.html?lanSoundOn=) while over in London. While Buzz is great – and tough, given the European roots – it was missing something. Something Jack-like.

In any case: Joystiq reported today that, at long last, [You Don’t Know Jack has returned](http://www.youdontknowjack.com/), online, in daily Flash bits. Sort of like a game podcast, without the syndication or enclosures or automation.

My world is one step closer to completion. Now to just order this copy of The Ride…

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Enjoyed Recommended

Some Thoughts on Gordon Ramsay at The London

I will readily admit that when it comes to fine dining, I am often out of touch. If you take all the places I’ve eaten since moving to the city over three years ago, and compare that list to the Michelin Guide NYC 2006, I have all of one star of dining experience. Granted, I did eat there twice – but it’s still the same star. I tend towards cheaper fare, but my eye drifts from time to time. Problem: I don’t like to fight for tables.

When the opportunity arose to eat at the new NYC restaurant of a [familiar chef](http://fox.com/hellskitchen/) who has eight Michelin stars under his belt, I thought, “Maybe it’s time to give this a shot.”

So two months ago to the day, I called up and made reservations for [Gordon Ramsay at The London](http://www.gordonramsay.com/internationalrestaurants/newyork/) for tonight, Katie’s 27th birthday. The restaurant, as of our visit, is just about 4 weeks old.

As I sit here, I realize it’s hard to do the meal justice without sounding like I’m gloating. I don’t want to gloat, and it’s certainly not my intent here – I want everyone to be able to experience food like this at one point or another in their lives. Food is one of the greatest pleasures in life – so many of my favorite memories revolve around eating and drinking with friends. Don’t deny yourself the opportunity, should it arise, to have a truly great meal.

My dinner consisted of:

* A glass of 1985 Veuve Clicquot Rose (quite refreshing, lovely color, nice rounded taste that wasn’t easily classified)
* Amuse Bouche: Gordon’s signature white bean cappuccino, flavored with mushrooms and black truffle (I broke my “no mushrooms” rule for this one, and it was worth it.)
* Lobster ravioli, poached in its own bouillon with celery root cream, shellfish vinaigrette and chervil velouté (The velouté was actually what made this dish – it added just the right balance to the lobster.)
* A bottle of 2004 Schaetzel Gewurztraminer. (Yes, I drink Gewurztraminer with just about anything, and this is probably the best bottle I’ve ever had. Lovely gold color, just the right level of sweet, good viscosity – drank more than I probably should have.)
* Roast cannon of lamb with confit shoulder, candied onions, Imam Bayildi and marjoram jus (I was not crazy about the Imam Bayildi. I was extremely crazy about the rest, particularly the confit shoulder.)
* Palette cleanser: Roasted pineapple with vanilla yogurt and crystallized cilantro (was hoping to have this, and if there’s any complaint, it’s that I finished it too quickly.)
* Valrhona chocolate fondant with milk ice cream (to be honest, this was the most disappointing course – it wasn’t bad, but everything before it was excellent, so since this only came in at “good”.)
* Treats off the bon bon cart (at this point, my stomach was swearing at me, even after sedating it with a lime-vanilla marshmallow).
Katie’s dinner replaced the ravioli with a “mosaic of fruit de mer”, the lamb with a pigeon and foie gras dish, and the added bonus of a birthday scoop of strawberry-pomegranate sorbet.

I wasn’t surprised the food was excellent – the real test was going to be the service. As a frequent Eater reader, I had seen all the reports coming in – things about two hour seating time limits, inconsistencies, photo bans, and so on. I regularly have to deal with less than stellar service, so I lowered my expectations a smidge.

Turns out, that wasn’t necessary. All of the wait staff was attentive, pleasant, and polite; pretty much everything I want out of wait staff. When a small photo crew showed up to take some press shots, our server gently asked us if it was okay. (As a quasi-photoblogger, who am I to object?) My only complaint was that one of the wait staff had such a thick french accent, I often had a hard time understanding him.

The strange highlight of the evening was hinted at early on, when our first server mentioned casually in conversation that tours of the kitchen were available. (I can’t imagine this is the case on busier nights, but this was a Monday.) After dessert, Katie asked if it would be possible, and a few minutes later, we were back in the kitchen. The kitchen is fairly massive, as one that supports two restaurants + room service should be. We got to meet Neil Ferguson, the Chef de Cuisine, as well as Gordon himself (who I should note, for the sake of those who have only seen Hell’s Kitchen, was both polite and very sweet). There’s also a nice large private table where they serve a nine-course chef’s choice menu for six to eight.

Quick word about the decor – the restaurant has around twelve tables, and the space is balanced nicely between too intimate (read: crowded) and too sparse. The look is suitably modern yet tasteful.

Given how fickle the NYC dining scene is, I have no idea how Gordon will do here in the city – but as far as my unrefined palette goes, I was extremely happy, and plan on making a trip back sometime next year.

P.S. Long time readers may remember that when I used to do restaurant recommendation lists, I [referred to Aureole](https://vjarmy.com/archives/2004/07/top_10_nyc_rest.php) (the source of my single Michelin star above) as crossing the “costs more than the top of the line iPod” line. Taking into account Apple’s current pricing levels and the amount of wine at the meal, this meal also crossed that line – but I can safely say that a meal at Gordon Ramsay doesn’t necessarily have to break that threshold.

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Enjoyed

Good Konami

I have always been interested in games that cross between the virtual world and the real world. There’s something that really hooks onto me when there’s a connection to the world outside the console/network.

I recently picked up *Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops*; the first real Metal Gear game for the PSP (not that I minded the Acid series as a diversion). Despite playing like most Metal Gear Solid games, it doesn’t follow all the conventions – the most major diversion being that Snake has to recruit soldiers throughout the game to help accomplish his mission.

The primary method of “recruiting” is to knock out an enemy and then drag him back to your truck or other team members. This is certainly a workable method, but a little tedious depending on the level size.

While I was monkeying around in the menus, I noticed one labeled “RECRUIT”. The three options were:

* Access Point Scan
* GPS Scan
* Password

While the Password option is almost exactly what it sounds like, the other two are extremely cool:

The *GPS Scan* option requires the GPS add-on for the PSP, which just came out and thus I don’t have. But if you get said module, selecting this will show you locations you can go to with your PSP to acquire new soldiers. That’s right – you have to walk with your PSP to the right spot to acquire game resources. Essentially, you are participating in geocaching.

The *Access Point Scan* option does not require an add-on. The concept here is that every wireless router in the world “contains” a soldier. As you get your PSP closer to a wireless router you haven’t accessed before, the on-screen signal grows stronger. Once it reaches a certain strength, you receive the soldier. (If you can’t get close enough, it is possible to mash the Circle button to help “boost” the signal.)

Why is this cool? It’s [wardriving](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardriving) to acquire game resources – except since you’re not actually connecting to the router, there’s no legal grey area. The soldiers you receive from this scanning are (apparently) generated based on the MAC address of the router; I’d love to see if there’s a pattern to the types of soldiers based on router manufacturer or model. Beyond trying to crack the system – searching this city for wireless routers is just plain fun. It’s a mini-game that gives me another excuse to roam the city. I’ve already picked up eleven soldiers from the elevated stretch of the subway I ride every day – I can only think of the possibilities.

(I realize that, in many ways, this is essentially a modernized version of the [Barcode Battler](http://www.vidgame.net/misc/barcodebattler.htm). This isn’t a bad thing – the Barcode Battler concept was a good one, even if the execution was incredibly crappy. Yes, I owned one. Shut up.)

In closing – kudos to Konami for including two activities that I would’ve never thought to associate with gaming into MGO:PO.